


Things that never happened: Summer

by far_from_you



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 08:28:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18824950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/far_from_you/pseuds/far_from_you
Summary: One Saturday afternoon where Emma just wanted to mind her own business at an outdoor music festival. Then Alyssa Greene talked to her. And kept talking.





	Things that never happened: Summer

Emma was stretched out on her bed. The box fan she'd stuck on the window was flipped to max. In her hand was a soda cup. What's left inside was probably the same tepid temperature of her tiny bedroom. Emma kept her eyes on the ceiling and lifted the cup to her lips and took a sip, not caring that it looked like water wrung from a rag and probably tasted like it.

The only thought in her mind was, "Who are you and why are you talking to me?"

That was what Emma wanted to ask the girl who sat by her today.

Sure, Emma _knew_ who Alyssa Greene was. They were in the same grade of their tiny high school in their tiny town. The girl was all smiles and bright eyes every time Emma saw her in the hallways or in the two classes they shared. Alyssa was in student council. Alyssa’s in National Honor Society. Alyssa was a varsity cheerleader. So Emma knew Alyssa Greene the same way every kid in school knew who’s who in the social hierarchy.

When she got up that morning Emma was set for it to be just another day being equipment manager for the James Madison High band. When the school district’s budget couldn’t find room for arts education, the music program got cut the year Emma started as a freshman. But band? Band at JMHS was spared because Friday night football was the height of the social scene at Edgewater, Indiana. And you can’t have football without the fight song played at every touchdown. Go Cats.

So there Emma was, one of a thousand teenagers at the Indianapolis Student Music Festival. Her only responsibility was to make sure the band's gear got on and off their bus. The rest of the time she got to hang about in the audience. The amphitheater in downtown Indy had a decent view of the river running through the west side of town. Emma was happy to mind her own business and people watch. Until Alyssa Greene and company showed up. 

The trio of girls appeared out of nowhere and loomed above Emma. There was enough space on Emma’s right that it might just fit the new arrivals. But Emma, alarmed at her personal bubble being invaded, scooted over and away in a hurry as the girls plunked themselves down.

"Hey! Emma!" said Alyssa, when she recognized who was next to her.

Shelby and Kaylee, the other two girls who were also in Emma’s year, barely managed a side eye at her direction.

Still, Emma attempted to wave. A little stiffly as though her limb was being jerked by a puppeteer. The girls kept ignoring her. She saw Kaylee almost raising her hand but then dropped it as though she thought better.

Guess friendship bracelets in sixth grade didn’t count for much in high school, Emma thought to herself.

"Are we taking someone else’s spot? Your friends?" Alyssa was, strangely, still talking to Emma.

"Um, I'm here with..." Emma trailed off and made a vague gesture towards the stage while explaining the equipment manager deal.

"Cool. I didn't know you could do that sophomore year."

Emma lifted her gaze to Alyssa, trying to work out if she was being serious. Alyssa’s eyes were bright and warm when they caught hers.

Even though scrutiny of any kind from other people made Emma supremely self-conscious, and even though she couldn’t explain why, Emma wanted Alyssa’s attention. And so, surprising herself, she blurted out, "It has its perks.”

All Alyssa said was, “Ah.”

"I have the keys to the band closet.” Emma wasn’t trying to come off as creepy but somehow managed it anyway. Why? Why were words spewing out like she’d no control over them? A growing feeling of panic built inside and her stomach clenched into a knot.  

Alyssa was still turned towards Emma and away from the other two girls, as though this conversation between them was meant to go somewhere.

"It's- I mean, I have-  it’s- that's quiet. My guitar.” Emma’s ears felt hot with embarrassment. She looked away and towards the stage.

At this point, her greatest wish was to suddenly discover that ground beneath her was actually a portal to the Upside Down. Getting trapped in an alternate dimension with faceless monsters would be less horrifying than trying to talk to a girl who seemed to have her entire attention trained on Emma every time she spoke.

Mercifully, Kaylee stuck her phone into Alyssa's face and the three friends turned their attention to someone’s latest Insta story.

Emma hugged her knees against her chest and started picking at the grass in front of her, relieved at being invisible to her peers again.

When the next band was setting up Alyssa turned to Emma and said, “Not to be lame and talk about school, but are you signed up to a committee yet for the food drive?”

The National Honor Society’s food drive this fall was going to the new service project. Carrying on a conversation about NHS shouldn’t be hard. It was the one extracurricular they both had in common. Yet, they’ve never spoken to each other during the meetings.

Emma answered mostly in monosyllables, only an evolutionary step above a caveman in her responses. Repeated thoughts taking up her last brain cell ran along the lines of, "Who is this girl and why does she keep talking to me? And why don’t I want her to stop?”

Alyssa didn’t seem put off by Emma’s short responses and was happy to let the conversation end without any awkwardness on her part. Emma, on the other hand, could barely look at Alyssa and her cheeks felt warmer every second Alyssa spoke to her. Emma winced when she noticed that the grass patch in front of her started to grow bald. She switched to worrying the fraying laces on her favorite pair of pink Chucks.

Later that afternoon the summer sun became almost brutal. Emma realized too late that she probably could have used a hat. Her Irish genes cursed her with skin that doesn’t understand the concept of tan; she’d go from lobster red to burnt by the time the band packed themselves back into the hot tin of a school bus for the ride home.

Shelby started to whine that it was "too frikkin’ hot" and it was time for slushies. It was an all or nothing affair, and the three girls got up to walk to the concessions. Before they left though Alyssa shocked Emma again by asking, “Do you want something to drink? Your water bottle's empty.”

Very slowly, Emma shook her head - still not really processing the whole Alyssa talking to her thing - and tried to smile. But it turned out more like a grimace; like she’d just sat on a pine cone. It would be one of about three zillion moments from today Emma would replay in her head that night.

When she finally came back Alyssa was all by herself, no Kaylee or Shelby in sight. In her hands were two soda cups already dripping with condensation. "I’m sorry! The line at the stands was insane. But it’s really too frickin hot and humid out here. Stay hydrated!" Alyssa handed Emma one of the cups.

Emma squinted and pushed her glasses up to stare at Alyssa. She then wordlessly took the offering which gave Alyssa a chance to wipe her hand on her shorts. Emma would never reveal this to another soul but in that moment the sight of Alyssa Greene’s tanned legs in denim shorts made her heart thump. Fast. Quick like a drummer on double time.

"Um, Shelby and Kaylee are checking out the other stage," Alyssa said.    

Emma knew that the normal person thing to do was to say something in response. A normal person would use words to express gratitude for the kind gesture from a girl who barely knew her from the rest of JMHS. Knowing this didn’t mean she could actually get the words out. Maybe the heat really had gotten to her. It’s definitely the weather. And not the smiling girl sat by her.

Movement around the lawn forced reality to punch through her haze of thoughts. People had started to get up, waves of bodies rising to leave and nobody seemed to pay any attention to the poor kid on stage trying to give a final speech. The festival had pretty unceremoniously came to an end.

"Oh shit. I have to get to the bus!" Emma said.

"Oh," Alyssa said and turned to look around. "Okay. Let's go!" And without waiting for a response Alyssa walked away.

Emma blinked, as though the words 'let's' and 'go' were taking a while for their meaning to sink in. She pushed herself off the grass, stumbled over her own foot and hurried after the other girl trekking up the slope of the amphitheater.

She kept her eyes to the ground, elbows out, trying to maintain some personal space as the crush of people closed in and jostled as the entire festival seemed to be headed in the same direction.

The next moment was the point Emma - now in bed - went back to over and over again. Trying to remember as much as she could before, during and after it happened.

Emma stayed as close as she could behind Alyssa, who was confidently threading through the crowd. Somewhere along the way, Alyssa wordlessly reached back towards Emma, like a relay runner looking for the baton handoff. Was Alyssa reaching for her?  Was she was just stretching backwards? Maybe she did want a baton?

The urge to overthink flew right at Emma. So she did the counterintuitive thing, because nothing about today so far had made sense. She dodged the doubts and slid her hand into Alyssa’s.

Emma shut her eyes and tried really hard to remember the way her fingers felt folded over Alyssa’s. It felt... soft. And warm. And yeah, it was probably a little sweaty. Or maybe it was Emma who was sweating.

Alyssa had tugged Emma along, as though this was just a normal Saturday afternoon with a friend. Emma held on to the other girl’s hand as lightly as she was breathing. So afraid that Alyssa might yank her hand away, and the fragile connection would shatter if she clutched on too tight.

The scrum of people grew closer and noisier as they got to the gates. At least, that’s what Emma imagined probably happened. Because try as she might, Emma couldn’t remember. Emma heard nothing but the sound of her heart thumping and the voices in her head. They were loud and sounded something like, “WHAT IS GOING ON? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

They were almost through the gates when Alyssa stopped. She had spotted a cluster of kids, friends from school. And just as swift as she had reached out for Emma’s hand, she let go and went over to the group. "Bye, Emma! See you at school!" Alyssa waved at her and disappeared with her friends. 

Emma was still playing catch up with all the thoughts careening through her head when Alyssa said that.

It’s now almost two in the morning. Emma could hear the box fan valiantly trying to do its job. The air was still sticky. It was too hot to even get under a sheet.

Emma carefully set the empty cup on her bedside table. She looked at the battered paper cup for a moment, then laid back down and shut her eyes. Fatigue finally won and she drifted off.

Sometime in the night she’d turn and clutch the side of her pillowcase, smiling as she dreamt about a girl with brown eyes. In her dream, they don’t say anything.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading my short fic. I hope you enjoyed it. I love The Prom and get so soft for these two characters. having a limited amount of canon material means I also spend a lot of time wondering about Emma and Alyssa's world. this one's called summer because maybe... eventually... I can do a few more and pretend it's a series.


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